Thinking Caps

 

BRAINS!!!!! We took on an artsy-craftsy-sciency project - making brains!

We were pointed to the project by the kids' Shoreline science teacher. She gave me a print out from Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop site. (BTW, that entire Web site looks aMaZinG! We'll be back to it!)

We printed the brain pattern out on cardstock, and the kids colored it with oil pastels. Then, they carefully cut them out. You wouldn't want to nick your sensory cortex - or any other lobe!

Then, it was time for a bunch of darts, tape and glue. After that dried, the kids contemplated the hemispheres and hoped their brains could become whole.

Fortunately, with a little packing tape from the post office, we got their brain halves together. Annabelle's fit better than CJ's. The boy has a rather huge-ish dome, no doubt to accommodate his enormous brain. :)

ALL UPHILL: Still sunny today, so that meant we HAD to get out in it. We decided to run errands today by walking. 

Tis the season of fern fronds. We saw lots today. 

And we spotted the delicate little flower below growing out of a sewer grate. Somehow, 'life finds a way,' as they said in "Jurassic Park."

We stopped for a photo opp at one of my favorite trees in the 'hood. Its owners have pruned it so the archway in it provides a great view of the Space Needle, the waterfront and the stadiums - when CJ and Annabelle aren't standing in the way. ;)

Once we got up and over the steep hill to the Village, we mailed our former physics professor a couple of thank yous, and CJ and Annabelle got down to their Number One reason for happily making the trek. FroYo!

Thanks to a Groupon I had, our tab there came to 73 cents. Nice!

FOLLOWING FOOTSTEPS: As we made our way back toward the west side of Magnolia, I spied a Lutheran church. I told the kids I suspected my paternal grandmother had visited the church in the past, as she was a Lutheran, very involved in her church, and lived on Queen Anne, not far away.

I pointed out the windows, and told the kids I bet they were stunning from the inside with the sun shining through. Annabelle asked if we could go inside, so we tried the front door and found it ajar.

We were the only souls around. We peeked at the chapel. It was gorgeous, with amazing wood arches in a reverse ark like shape. (Sorry no photo - it was very dark in there and my point and shoot camera didn't respond well.)

The stained glass windows were, indeed, lovely. Here's one example.

PARADOX: On our way home, we stopped at a park along the way. The kids played with some other kids. At one point I heard CJ repeatedly trying to get a girl a bit younger than Annabelle interested in hearing about the Fermi paradox. He was giving it a hard sell, but she wasn't buying.